The not-so-great drywall of China

Flickr image by Jesse Gardner.

Q: I bought a home and am concerned that it has a lot of the symptoms of Chinese drywall. Did the real estate companies that were listing these homes have any responsibility to determine if the house they are selling has this product, either due to a remodel or in the original building of the home?

A: From 2005-07, two severe hurricanes and the housing craze incited a major wave of home construction, leading to shortages of some building supplies that particularly affected the Southern U.S. Some homebuilders -- especially in Florida, Virginia and Louisiana -- began using drywall imported from China.

Since that time, homes containing defective Chinese drywall have been reported as having all sorts of problems, including corrosion of copper plumbing and electrical wiring, appliance failures, a strongly sulfurous (i.e., rotten egg) odor, and even health problems.

It's important to note that while the problematic drywall has become generically known as "Chinese drywall," it hasn't yet been proven that all Chinese-manufactured drywall presents a risk for corrosion and health issues, according to a U.S. Interagency Task Force on Chinese Drywall. (More information is available at: drywallresponse.gov.)

The Consumer Products Safety Commission recently tested both Chinese drywall samples and the air within Chinese drywall-containing homes, and found that high levels of hydrogen sulfide and formaldehyde are the likely causes of theses issues. The Environmental Protection Agency has found elements like sulfur and strontium in samples of the Chinese drywall at issue, elements that are nonexistent in American drywall.

And if dealing with all that weren't enough, many owners of homes containing Chinese drywall have found that neither their homes' builders nor their insurance companies will cover their damages. In fact, a number of insurance companies have refused to continue covering homes with Chinese drywall at all.

The media is starting to report instances of homeowners walking away and allowing their homes to go to foreclosure after experiencing health issues from Chinese drywall and feeling forced to rent another place to live.

While this issue is far from over, to say that the existence of Chinese drywall in a home might be a negative in the eyes of prospective homebuyers would be a major understatement.

Real estate brokers' and agents' various duties vary somewhat in different states. However, there are a number of clear-duty boundaries, relevant to the Chinese drywall issue, that are nearly universal.

For example, brokers do have the duty to disclose a material fact -- something that would be important to a reasonable buyer's decision-making process -- that they know or should have known. So, if the sellers actually told their broker that they knew a property had Chinese drywall "issues," the broker (and the seller, for that matter) would be required to disclose that to you. ...CONTINUED

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